Soaking-pit crane.



D. KEND'ALL.

SOAKING PIT CRANE.

APPLlcATmN man MAY r2. ma.

Patented Aug. 7, 1917.

' 3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

4 INVEN fw Mw D. KENDALL.

SOAKING PIT CRANE.

. APPLICATION FILED MAYIZ. i916.

1,236,089. Patented Aug. 7,1917,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR y l i@ D. 'KENDALLQ SOAKING PH' CRANE.

APPLICATION FILED wim/12.1916.

1,236,089. Patented Aug. 7; 1917.

3 SHEETS-.SHEET a lHHIHIINIIIIIIII DAVID KENDALL, F AIfLIANCE.,r QHIO, AssICNoR To THE ALLIANCE MACHINE COM- I'ANY, or ALLIANCE, OHIO. A CORPORATION or OHIO.

SOAKING--PIT CRANE.

Application filed May 12, 1916.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID KENDALL, a citizen of the United States, residing in Alliance, Stark county, in the State o f 0h10, have invented a new and useful Improvement, in Soaking-Pit Cranes, of which the following is a full, clear, and eXact descrip- Y tion, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a plan view of the winding drum and operating mechanism on the carriage of a soaking pit crane.

Fig. 2 is a sideelevation thereof.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation in diagram illustrating .the cables and the operating mechanisin.

Fig. 4 is an endV view thereof in diagram,

Fig. 5 is a vertical section through the sheave for actuating the cable for opening the tongs, and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line VI-VI of Fig. 5.

This invention relates to lan improvement in mechanism for opening the tongs on crane structures and is more particularly designed to open .the tongs of soaking pit cranes.

In cranes of this general character, the tongs, together with the load supported thereby, are raised and lowered by 'means of a cable or a plurality of cables, while the tongs are opened by means of a separate cable. IIeretofore the separate cable was operated by a separate motor and very frequently the ,operating mechanism for opening `the tongs would move beyond the point to fully open the tongs so that the entire weight of the tongs and .the supporting mechanism therefor would be thrown on the cable, and) as this cable is not intended to raise' the supporting mechanism for the tongs, the cable would very frequently break.

The .object o f my invention is to provide a safety device for this cable which is so arranged that the operating mechanism for said cable will slip after the tongs have 'been moved to their fully open position, so that any further movement of the cable operating mechanism will have no eect on the tong supporting mechanism.

The precise nature of my invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings which will now be de- Specvication of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. *7, 1917.

Serial No. 97,206.

scribed, it being premised, however, that various changes may be made in the details of construction and the general arrangement of the parts, without departingvfrom the spirit and scope of my invention as ydefined in the appended claims.

In the drawings, the reference character 2 designates a crane carriage or trolley which is mounted ion supporting Awheels 3 which rest on the rails of a cane bridge structure. Supported on this crane carriage for vertical movement is a lifting bar 5. 6 is a motor on the crane carriage which is connected by means of gearing 7 with one of the supporting wheels 3 for moving the trolley transversely across the crane bridge, Connected to the lower end of the crane 5 is a'support S for the jaws 9 ,of the tongs. The upper ends of these jaws are provided with projections 1.0 which engage cam grooves Il in the support 8. I2 is a crosshead having a stem I3 which is slidably mounted in a bearing on the support 8, the ends thereof being pivotally connected to the jaws'9. Connected to the cross-head 12 is a lifting rod I4: having a sheaveI-la oo nnected to the upper end thereof, the rod being arranged to be lifted by the slieave as hereinafter described, to raise the jaw members of the tongs with relation to the support 8 to open the tongs. Rotatably mounted on .the carriage 3 is a winding drum l5 which is arranged ,to be actuated by means of a motor I6 and gearing 17 .l 18-18 are cables which are wound on the drum l5, one end yof each of said cables being connected to the drum, the other ends thereof being connected to a counterweight 19. The cables 18 pass from the winding drum l5 around sheaves 2O ,on the lifting bar 5, then up and over sheaves 21 on a shaft 22 journaled in bearings on the crane carriage 2. 28 designates a cable for raising the jaw members 9 as before described, one end thereof being connected to the winding drum I5 and arranged to be wound thereon, the other end thereof being provided with a counterweight 24. This cable passes around the sheave 14a, then up and around a sheave 25 loosely mounted on the shaft 22 and .then over an idler 26. rIbis cable is looped one or more times around the sheave 25, which sheave isprovided with a split 4collar .27

which is interposed between the cable and the sheave and is arranged to be held in frictional driving contact therewith by the weight of the tongs and the counterweight 24 for the purpose hereinafter' described.

The sheave 25 is connected to a gear Wheel 28 which meshes with a pinion 29 on a shaft 30 journaled in bearings on the carriage 2. This shaft 30 is arranged to be driven by means of a motor 31 and the gearing 32.

The operation of the device is as follows:

Assuming the tongs are to be lowered over an ingot to be grasped, the motor 31 is set into operation and through the medium of the gearing will rotate the shaft 25 which will raise the rod 14 together with the jaw members 9 of the tongs and during this upward movem-ent of the tongs, the counter-y weight 24 will be lowered. 1f the operator should fail to stop the motor 31 before the projections 10 reach the top of the slots 11, there will be no undue strain thrown on the cable 23 as the sheave 25 will slip over the split sleeve portion 27, the reason for this being that the weight on the cable is merely sufficient to hold the split sleeve in contact with the sheave 25 with sufficient pressure to raise a load slightly greater than the weight supported by the rod 14, so that there will be no danger of breaking any of the mechanism on the lifting cable 23.

After the tongs have been opened, the lifting bar, together with the tongs are lowered over the ingot to be raised, the motor 31 is then rotated in a reverse direction to ease oif the cable 23 suihciently to permit the tongs to be closed. The motor 16 is then set in operation to rotate the drum 15 in the proper direction to wind up the cables 1S and 23. This upward movement of the cables 18 willy raise the lifting bar, together with the support 8 and this upward movement of the support will permit the projections 10 to move downwardly in the slots 11, so that the jaws 9 will grasp the ingot to be lifted. As soon as the jawshave closed in on the ingot, they will be moved together with the support and further relative movement of the jaws and the support will be stopped. The ingot raised by the tongs is then conveyed to the proper point by means of the crane mechanism and is lowered into position upon the support on which it is to be deposited. After the ingot has been deposited on the support, the motor 31 is set into operation to open the tongs and release the ingot.

The advantages of my invention result from the provision of operating mechanism for opening tongs, having a friction ear device included therein in which the weight of the tongs acts to maintain frictional driving connections between said members, which members are so arranged that they will slip relative to each other after a pref determined amount of strain is exerted on said mechanism.

l claim:

1. A device of the character described, comprising tongs, a support for said tongs, a cable for opening said tongs, a sheave about which said cable passes for actuating the cable, and a split sleeve interposed between the cable and the sheave and arranged to be held in Contact therewith by the load on the cable, substantiallyas described.

j 2. A device of the character described,

comprising tongs, a support for said tongs, I

a cable for actuating said support, means on the tongs and support for opening the tongs when moved relative to the support, a cable connected to the tongs, and arranged to move said tongs relative to the support, a sheave about which said cable passes, and a split sleeve on the sheave engaged by the cable and arranged to be held in frictional driving contact therewith by the load on the cable, substantially as described.

3. A crane having a pair of tongs connected thereto, a cable for opening said tongs, a sheave for said cable, means to actuate said sheave, a split sleeveV interposed between said sheave and cable and arranged to be held in contact with said sheave by the load on the cable; substantially as described.

i 4. A soaking pit crane, comprising a lifting bar, a support for tongs on said bar, means for raising and lowering said bar, tong members, cam connections between said support and tong members, said cam being arranged to open and close the tong members when moved relative to the support, a crosshead connected to said tong members, a support for said crosshead, a cable for moving said cross head relative to the tong support, a sheave about which'said cable passes, and a split sleeve interposed between the cable and the sheave, said cable being arranged to be driven by the sheave through the medium of the split sleeve held in frictional contact therewith by the cable.

5. A soaking pit crane comprising a carriage, a lifting bar arranged to be moved relative thereto, a winding drum, cables connected to said drum and the lifting bar ar-4 ranged to raise and lower the lifting bar, a counterweight connected to the dead ends of said cables, a support for a pair of tongs on said lifting bar, a pair of jaws having cam connections with said support, said cam connections being arranged to open and close said jaws when moved relative to the support, a crosshead connected to said jaws, a rod mounted on the lifting bar and arranged to support said crosshead, a sheave connected to said rod, a second cable connected to the winding drum and passing around said sheave, a counterweiglit connected to the dead end of said cable, and a friction device for actuating said cable and arranged to slip under a predetermined amount of resistance; substantially as described.

6. A soaking pit crane comprising a carriage, a lifting bar arranged to be moved relative thereto, a winding drum, cables connected to said drum and a lifting bar arranged to raise and lower the lifting bar, a counterweight Connected to the dead ends of said cables, a support for a pair of tongs on said lifting bar, a pair of jaws having cam connections with said support, said eam connections being arranged to open an Close said aws when moved relative to the support a crosshead connected to said jaws, a rod mounted on the lifting bar and arranged to support said erosshead, a sheave connected to said rod, a second cable eonnected to the winding drum and passing around said sheave, a Counterweight connected to the dead end of said cable, a sheave coaeting with said cable for raising and lowering the jaws relative to the support, and a friction sleeve interposed between the cable and the last mentioned sheave; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

DAVID KENDALL. Witnesses:

O. RYAN, A. WV. MORRIS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

